Real average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose 0.2 percent from December 2012 to December 2013. This increase stems from a 1.8‑percent increase in average hourly earnings that was partially offset by a 1.5‑percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.

Note: The percentage changes are calculated based on the earnings levels in December of each year from 2006 to 2013.

The increase in real average hourly earnings, combined with a 0.3‑percent decline in the average workweek, resulted in no net change in real average weekly earnings in 2013.

In 2012, real average hourly and weekly earnings increased slightly, by 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. That followed alternating decreases and increases in real average hourly and weekly earnings each year back to 2007.

The net effect of all the decreases and increases in real earnings since 2007 is that real average hourly earnings were 1.6 percent higher in December 2013 than they were in December 2006. Real average weekly earnings were 0.8 percent higher at the end of 2013 than at the end of 2006.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months are preliminary. To learn more, see "Real Earnings — December 2013," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL‑14‑0038. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers is used to deflate the earnings data.

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Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Real average hourly earnings up 0.2 percent in 2013; real weekly earnings unchanged on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140122.htm (visited August 02, 2015).